Expressions of interest (EOI) for providing Ocean Freight Services to St Helena was advertised in late May 2014

OCEAN FREIGHT SERVICES POST- RMS EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST
Expressions of interest (EOI) for providing Ocean Freight Services to St Helena was advertised in late May 2014 (published in Island newspapers on 22 and 23 May) - looking to identify appropriate solutions to supply the Island’s Ocean Freight needs on a fully commercial (non-subsidised) basis from mid 2016.
The advertisement invited EOIs from suitably qualified and experienced organisations interested in providing an ocean freight service to the Island following the opening of the Island’s Airport - for an initial term of five years (with an option to extend for further periods up to a maximum of 10 years).
The deadline for EOIs and return of the Pre-Qualification Questionnaire closed on Friday 11 July 2014.
Corporate Procurement Executive, David Woosey, reports that an excellent response was received from a variety of operators around the world. Eight serious responses were received with a number of different business models and hub ports being proposed.
These EOIs will now be evaluated by a team of representatives from SHG, St Helena Line, Enterprise St Helena, the St Helena Chamber of Commerce and the St Helena Tourism Association - to determine which potential solutions to take forward to the next stage.
David explained:
“For obvious reasons the names of those submitting Expressions of Interest and the content of the proposals must remain confidential at this time. Solutions received will be compared against a variety of criteria.”
The coming months will see detailed negotiations taking place with a number of organisations that have provided high quality responses, to fine tune proposals into viable and workable solutions.
David added:
“We envisage a small number of interested suppliers will want to visit the Island and, should this be the case, we will facilitate Q&A sessions via the Chamber of Commerce. “Once we are confident that we have a number of workable solutions, we anticipate holding a number of consultation sessions with local importers to help inform the final tender round.
“Whilst it is very early in the process, we are confident that an appropriate solution to St Helena’s ocean freight needs will be in place by mid-2016.”
SHG Shipping Officer, Dax Richards, commented:
“This is a great result for St Helena. We had hoped to get around six proposals given the interest received when an initial expressions of interest process was led by ESH in 2013. To receive eight potentially viable proposals gives the Island a number of options and is very encouraging. We’d like to thank key stakeholders for the support we have received so far. If the negotiations go well, we expect that a contract could be signed around March or April 2015.”
SHG
14 July 2014